jews and jewish education in germany today - The Westbury Group

7. GESA EDERBERG
May 4, 2009, Berlin
● Rabbi Ederberg, what has attracted you to Conservative Judaism, i.e. Masorti?
I think to locate myself within Masorti Judaism was really born out of two considerations: One is the modern,
intellectual, very committed approach to Judaism. For me, Reform Judaism was not a really option in terms
of commitment to Halacha, and to observance, and also to text-based knowledge. On the other hand, being a
woman, Orthodoxy just was also not an option for me.
● What is your feeling about the prospects of Jewry in Germany, with its unique composition, in the near
future and in the long term?
It is very important to acknowledge the specific mix, just to figure out target groups and the way we can care
for them. For example, in the younger generation, let’s say 30 and younger, it does not make sense any more
to distinguish between Germans and Russians. Education should be in German for this group. It might
include providing Russian learning options for the children of the Russian immigrants because they also have
to study their mother tongue, but that’s a side issue.
In general, that’s a target group where we don’t need to look at different backgrounds so much. Israelis and
Americans also fit into this group, let’s say 30-35 years and younger. It’s completely different with the older
generation. For the older generation, we need language specific educational programs. It doesn’t make sense
to try to integrate elderly immigrants into German culture. We should just provide them with Jewish
knowledge and Jewish information as much as we can.
I would somehow put the focus on the younger generation, students and young families, because the middle
generation, of the immigrants especially, are very busy in building their economic lives, and the chance to
engage them in Community life when they came here, this chance has already been lost. We might have been
able to reach them, but this window opportunity is closed. I would really focus on students, and on young
families.
Concerning the difference between the short-term and the long-term perspectives, currently we have a huge
lack of teachers, educators, Rabbis and educated, committed people. That’s something which creates a
vicious circle, because by not having these role models, we cannot attract the people choosing a career to
become a Jewish educator. One important long-term goal should be to qualify Jewish educators, Rabbis,
cantors and so on from Germany. We cannot start a successful school of Jewish education if we do not get the
students. So in the short-term we need to import good educators, and we need to do so widely.
For example, there’s this beautiful Lehavah project which brings young observant Israel youth and kids to
our Communities. However, a big problem remains the language barrier. It’s just until they can communicate
in German, half the year is already gone. This exchange should be expanded. We need more madrichim,
more schlichim, and that means we need a lot of preparation and education beforehand. A mentoring system
would also be an important step.
Another very, very important piece is educational material. Even an excellent teacher will only be mediocre
if there are no materials and you don’t always have time to prepare new material.
● How would you describe the current relations between the German speaking and Russian speaking Jews?
This is a very complex issue and it’s important to look at it closely and not to generalize it in two or three
words. By the way: I’m just coming from the Limmud Festival in Berlin which was a celebration of Jewish
pluralism, just like in the years before. Obviously, there are cultural differences and the participants might
show it in their taste in music or literature. However, people are joining together, and it works.
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